User talk:John of Reading/Archive 6

This is an archive of past discussions with User:John of Reading. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

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Archive 4

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Thank you

Hi John,

Just to say thank you for working on the Serer people article.

Thanks

Tamsier (talk) 13:19, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Fair use

Hi John, Thanks for responding. I am pretty new to all this...

Yes your response helped but then how come this wasn't allowed on Flavour Nabania's page when the picture is of him? Or am I still not getting something here? Does that not class as the 'Fair Usage'? The same thing with my player Gideon Baah.. The page is for him but a picture of him was deleted...Please advice.... Many Thanks

I now realise that my first answer wasn't good enough. I'll write some more at User talk:Hazelnike. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:31, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

All I ask for is the truth.

John, thank you for taking time to respond to my claim, however, discouraging me from trying to add truthful and easily verifiable information merely because it's autobiographical is troubling. Sadly, people use wikipedia as their sole valid source of info, so it puts me in an extremely bad situation when I am unable to correct my own information when others are listing it as incorrect. My parents were saddened to learn that they were misrepresented on my page (their names and occupations were completely inaccurate). They actually thought I was ashamed of them. It took AGES for me to get that info corrected. How can you discourage me from protecting the truth? And why should I be okay with having legitimate information about one of my shows removed for no reason? I'm not trying to add editorial information. I'm trying to add FACTS. Indisputable facts regarding my own life and work that others are providing carelessly erroneous information about. Wikipedia should be a service of and for the community but not at the expense of the truth. I'm sorry that you feel it's okay to lie to people when it doesn't meet with the baffling policies that govern this tome of half-truths. This is very disconcerting and I will be sharing wikipedia's willful ignorance policy with the many, many people who follow me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spamwick (talk • contribs) 08:36, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

The discussion at Talk:The Nerdist Podcast is not particularly about whether the episode names and dates are true, but about whether they belong in an encyclopedia article about the show. As laid out at WP:NOTDIRECTORY, Wikipedia does not aim to record everything. You are welcome to contribute to that discussion - but you should make it clear that you are the host of the show.

Wikipedia takes errors in biographical articles very seriously. If there are errors in this article, please list them on the talk/discussion page with a note that you are Chris Hardwick. If that doesn't work there are other suggestions at WP:AUTOPROB including an email address. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:52, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

anonymous (street meat)

(misplaced comment from userpage moved at 16:01, 14 November 2011 (UTC)) Hi, John of Reading, here's the Huffington Post article --

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cubias/are-the-banks-still-comin_b_1076388.html

and here's the user's page --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Migdiachinea/Anonymous_(Street_Meat)

If you can help, it would be very nice -- thanx and sorry I haven't been in touch. Shot another film last week and I'm dealing with many related issues, including my father's impending surgery. Mig (talk) 15:58, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Hmm, the Huffington Post article doesn't have much to say about the film, does it? -- John of Reading (talk) 16:08, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

I've added this as a reference to the Migdia Chinea Varela article. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:29, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

No, it links to the film. The article focuses on BofA and what it does to people because it can "What is happening to me..." I've received email from people I don't know who have seen it and make a connection. I sure did. I'm just not a real on the nose writer, etc, and prefer to create a metaphor, rather than an overt statement. I'm now editing my new short. We'll see what shakes. My father's surgery was postponed bc he has a cold. Something BIG is going to happen, I can feel it. Regards, Mig (talk) 04:49, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

I meant to thank you also for the aditional article link to the page. The last thing one can do around these parts is be in a hurry because what you write comes out totally skewed. I have mentioned this to Cloveapple, who was editing that page. Wouild it be possible to remove this following announcement -- I'm not editing this and I don't know you or Cloveapple?

"This article is an autobiography, or has been extensively edited by the subject or an institution related to the subject. Please help edit it to conform to Wikipedia's neutral point of view, in line with the discussion on the talk page. (October 2011)" Something big is going to happen, I know it. Thanx so much for everything and kind regards, Mig (talk) 15:40, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

No, I'm not going to remove the {{COI}} tag. It was removed on the 26th Oct and immediately put back again in this edit. Be patient - if something big happens, it can be written about at Wikipedia. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:08, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Schnauzers

	Award for being loyal and adorable
	My loves --. Mig Mig (talk) 19:33, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Well, I'm trying to be as helpful as I can while maintaining Wikipedia standards. I'm not sure that's enough to make me "loyal and adorable", though...or are you referring to your dogs? -- John of Reading (talk) 08:57, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I'm referring to you all! My dogs are picture perfect for the loyal and adorable award to be bestowed upon those who are beyond diligent. Mig (talk) 06:12, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Pickup

Hi I noticed you are changing the word "pickup" to "pick up" in a number of Alberta political articles. The word pickup in a political context referring to the gain of a political district is used correctly. An example of that outside of Wikipedia is in this news article is here [1] The word pickup in that context is common usage in Western Canadian English as well as American English. --Þadius (talk) 09:10, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

(e/c) That news article only uses "pickup" as a noun - "A Republican pickup". I am, I hope, only changing instances of "pickup" where it is being mis-used as a verb - "to pickup" - which is incorrect according to wikt:pickup and a couple of other dictionaries that I checked. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:21, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Faleristics

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Djathinkimacowboy 14:35, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Create new article need help on format and to see if it is good enough

I created a List of Plasma (physics) articles right now. It has no link i don't know how to get one maybe it needs to be approved. I made it up and down like index of wave articles . But it just keeps on going down how do i make it more even pot Like right next to article A index. Should i rename it and add plasma applications or technology with it. Side by side is harder to read so im making it up and down but if someone changes it do i still get credtit for what i added so far. i still have a whole list to add to it probably about 500 at least more plasma articles. Should i delete the new name article goes here and delete contents reference and external links.Can u help me. You dont have to add any plasma articles i got them all on my word pad list.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 08:35, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

I've tweaked the text at the top and reformatted the list into three columns, using Index of wave articles as a guide. The page history shows clearly that you contributed most of the content. I've left the "new unreviewed article" banner in place so that the usual reviewers will look at it as well. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:12, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks This guy wants to delete it maybe because he thinks it is similar to category plasma physics but it is not. Plasma category physics does not show up on the search tool box plus sometimes theres a limit to the amount of articles You can put. And it doesnt't have all of the plasma application technology and equations like list of plasma physics articles. Check out the discussion if u want and see what u think. Maybe i should delete the plasma capitalization of the P and make it a lower case p. Is that why is cant be viewed on the search tool engine. Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 18:59, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Google has already indexed your article - Google search - but so far it won't be one of the main results for typical searches like this one because Google doesn't yet see it as an important page. You shouldn't worry too much about search engines, though. If you concentrate on building an encyclopedia then Google and the others will catch up eventually.

I suggest you don't rename the article. Leave that for someone who knows the article naming rules inside out. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:03, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks i actually meant wikipedia's search box won't show up yet. I guess it has to be approved first. Maybe because it's spelled wrong with a capital Plasma.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 20:50, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Oh yes, sorry. Try again in 24 hours - see Help:Searching#Delay in updating the search index. This delay has nothing to do with the "New unreviwed article" banner. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:54, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Thom Calandra

Saw your edits, so, I guess you're about to deal with Mr. Calandra on HD - that's cool; I was about to do similar / point to Wikipedia:Contact us/Article problem/Factual error (from subject), but I'll leave you to it. Cheers, Chzz ► 08:47, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Done - though it took me a while to get the words right. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:55, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Looks good.

As regards the stuff he seems bothered about though - re. undisclosed compensation - it's hard to argue with the refs; especially [2], and it seems to be reasonable weighting, too, based on what I see on Goog News. I imagine he will not be happy with the article, but...anyway, your answer was quite right; the talk page is, of course, the right place for this. Cheers! Chzz ► 09:09, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

I predict that the article will be unrecognisable in a few hours once the usual HD volunteers have all had a go at cleaning it up! -- John of Reading (talk) 09:14, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Likely Chzz ► 09:18, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Please look at this with impartiality

An article Mark Ashwell has been created largely by one user. I have tagged it and had my tags removed twice by this user. Regards --Greenmaven (talk) 23:55, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

I've had a look, and have edited the article and the talk page. The article might just scrape through an Afd, though I'm still not good at judging these things. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:20, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

(more) It's perhaps not helpful to stick so many tags at the top of an article. See here. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:39, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks - I have put a note for you on the article talk page as well, I will look at the template page you suggested --Greenmaven (talk) 04:58, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Some baklava for you!

For good advice over about 12 months Greenmaven (talk) 05:02, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Mmm, thanks! -- John of Reading (talk) 07:43, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Pokemon portal improvement

Good Job!

Thanks for pointing out a better way to include references in portals. Northamerica1000^(talk) 11:16, 25 November 2011 (UTC)}}

Talkback, Portals

Hello, John of Reading. You have new messages at Northamerica1000's talk page.
Message added 02:25, 26 November 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

A barnstar for you!

	The Copyeditor's Barnstar
	For all your work correcting typos Oddbodz (talk) 16:44, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! c 80,000 and counting... -- John of Reading (talk) 20:58, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Someone seems to be vandalising Shoreham, Kent

Could you take a look please? --Greenmaven (talk) 23:20, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Done There are easier ways to undo five vandal edits at once - see Help:Reverting#Manual reverting. If you find yourself having to do this a lot you might like to enable the Twinkle tool, which makes it very easy to undo vandalism and place a warning message on the user's talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:59, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

IRC cloak request

About eighteen months ago, Chzz (talk · contribs) suggested I try helping at the IRC help channel. I've finally got round to trying it... -- John of Reading (talk) 10:51, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

thnx

thnx I just disabled WikiTweak Gauravjuvekar (talk) 13:30, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Category:Architects from Colorado

John of Reading, Thank you for the helping hand. Creating categories is above my pay grade; so I have an excuse. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 22:06, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, John of Reading. You have new messages at Gailsedotes's talk page.
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Gailsedotes (talk) 18:01, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, but I don't see any new messages for me at User talk:Gailsedotes. I'll watch the page, so I'll see anything you post there. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:05, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

OK, I see it now. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:06, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

thanks again! and you beat me to the talkback on his page :) Gailsedotes (talk) 18:13, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks, John. It's never too late... to be late. :)) Yes, I can find my way around (I am admin on Bosnian Wiki), but warm welcome is always welcome. :)) Best wishes. -- Kukac (talk) 15:43, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

Many Thanks for your prompt response to my query 'Identifying edit removing section from article' at the Help Desk John Clivemacd (talk) 18:20, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

HHOLDINGS

I note that my materials under user: hholdings have erroneously been deleted stating that it was copywright material citing one of my websites http://www.williamcharrison.com. The material in question was composed personally by me on my word processing system(Microsoft Word) and transferred to several of my web sites (11 of them) as well as to Wikipedia. Bits and pieces may be incorporated on a few of the sites but it was all originated from a single source (my word processing system) that I generated. The web site cited (www.williamcharrison.com) is my name and certainly before deleting any material, I should have been notified by email which you have ([email protected]).

What can be done to recover the material and re-admit it on Wikipedia? What do I have to do to grant authorization of the material since I own and authored the material and am the owner of the web sites?

William C. Harrison [email protected] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hholdings (talk • contribs) 08:08, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia operates a very simple sign-up process - you just choose a user name, and don't have to prove anything about who you are. This is one of the reasons that Wikipedia has to be take a firm line on apparent violations of copyright, as there's nothing to stop person A claiming to be person B and uploading text belonging to person B. You'd be amazed how often that happens. To confirm that you, Wikipedia editor Hholdings, are the owner of the website owned by William C Harrison, you need to go through an extra formal step by sending an email as described at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.

BUT the text at http://www.williamcharrison.com/ is not suitable for Wikipedia for other reasons, so I recommend that you don't spend any time on the copyright issue. One is that the text appears to be advertising, and Wikipedia is not an advertising outlet. Also, Wikipedia does not aim to have a page on every person or company, only those that other people have already written about; there's more on this at Wikipedia:Notability. And Wikipedia editors are strongly discouraged from writing about themselves; see Wikipedia:Autobiography.

I'm sorry to be so discouraging. One day, perhaps, your businesses will have generated enough media interest that someone will decide to write a Wikipedia article about them. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:48, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Re: Donation appeal

You're welcome. Was upset earlier regarding that post, calling my story as hoax but now me fine :) -- Karthik Nadar (talk) 17:18, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm very glad to hear that. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:19, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Many Thanks!

Hi, John of Reading - thank you for reviewing, untagging & tidying-up Charlotte Melmoth & John Street Theatre, and for your positive comments on the help desk! I very much appreciate you taking the time & effort to do this. I'm not quite sure why I'm writing articles about American theatre - I live in East Sussex - I started off intending to contribute just one article about a 19th century writer from Hastings, uncovered links to someone else who lacked a Wikipedia page, so researched them and that lead to something else, etc etc! Anyhow - thanks again for your assistance! Butcherscross (talk) 20:36, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Reviewing an article is easy when it is instantly obvious that the author knows what he is doing! -- John of Reading (talk) 20:40, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Passchendaele

Thanks for your edits.Keith-264 (talk) 09:33, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Just one of the thousands of articles on my current list. May take until mid-January... -- John of Reading (talk) 10:10, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Hail Stakhanov....Keith-264 (talk) 13:12, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Like -- John of Reading (talk) 13:14, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

For fixing my brackety goof. Rich Farmbrough, 15:06, 5 December 2011 (UTC).

I'll stay well clear of the long thread on your talk page! -- John of Reading (talk) 15:12, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Wise. Rich Farmbrough, 11:27, 6 December 2011 (UTC).

Storm 2

I don't go here much anymore, so I don't really mind what happens to it, as I'll probably not be around to see the change.--The Master of Mayhem (talk, contribs, email) 16:17, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

I have reduced Storm 2/Controversy to a redirect. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:35, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

"try and" construct

I saw that you corrected "try and" to "try to" in at least one article recently. I'm not averse to the change. I just wanted to mention that "try and" is a valid usage of the words and is a valid construct in itself, and I wondered if this might, possibly, depend on the country and district where you live. Your changes neither weaken nor strengthen the wording of the article. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 18:44, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm tackling "try and" because it is listed in the List of common misspellings and because the Wictionary entry says it should be followed by an infinitive. I regard "try and" as an informal usage not suitable for formal writing such as an encyclopedia. I'll post at Wikipedia talk:Typo Team to see what other editors think. I would certainly get through my current article list more quickly with the "try and" fixes disabled. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:13, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

As I implied, I have no quarrel with your alteration. I see the two as equivalent. I would love to save you time and effort :). I wonder if we might find that 'common parlance' and 'consensus' intersect here. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 19:23, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

I think try and and try to are both valid, but have different meanings. To try to do something is to make an attempt to do something. To try and do something is to make an attempt to do something and actually do it. For the latter meaning, the words try and can normally be omitted without changing the meaning, since an attempt to do something is implied by doing it. However, try and can emphasise the effort involved. Such emphasis is probably not appropriate for an encyclopedia article, as emphasis is incompatible with a neutral point of view. Having said that, in most cases where I see try and, it is normally try to that was meant.

On seeing try and, you need to consider what was meant to decide whether to change it to try to, or remove it as excess wordiness and/or unencyclopedic emphasis.

For eliminating the common confusion between try and and try to, perhaps it helps to consider whether the same construct makes sense in the past tense: "He tried to do something" sounds fine, but "he tried and do something" sounds wrong due to mixed tenses. Correcting the mixed tenses gives "he tried and did something", where the attempted-and-did meaning is clearer.

I'm not any expert on grammar, so I can't be certain the above is right; this is just how I personally interpret these phrases. As for regional variations, I'm unsure; it is certainly possible that try and means something different in other forms of English. My native tongue is British English, if that helps. – PartTimeGnome (talk | contribs) 23:16, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

I like your analysis, but think you may have over-thought. I only asked because I was taught by a grammar pedant that the two constructs were the exact equivalent of the other. The word 'and' here appears to become the word 'to', but the construct is unique to the verb 'to try'. Some have suggested that one construct is colloquial and the other grammatical, yet there are sufficient examples of 'try and' in mainstream writing to render that a difficult argument to sustain. I am ambivalent, and simply interested. Nothing said here is likely, though I don't rule it out, to alter my view of equivalence, and I am absolutely not objecting to any edits that substitute the one with the other, either way round. This is, for me, an academic discussion, no more and no less. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 00:18, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you both. It seems this one isn't worth the hours I'm spending on it, so I'll turn off this "find and replace" rule. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:35, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Pragmatic :) If it ever becomes important, go at it with a will :) Fiddle Faddle (talk) 15:48, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the Welcome!

Just wanted to return the kind welcome as well as thank you for pointing out all of the "starter articles" that you did. I found them all helpful, and the Five Pillars, in particular, very interesting and pertinent to a current project I have found myself swimming in. Being the "Librarian" - researcher-type personality that I am, felt compelled to join and hope to be around and a part of the Wiki-community for a long time. --Branwen70 ^(Talk) 12:54, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! In my overzealous eagerness to jump in, I entirely overlooked the prohibition on images in signatures. --Branwen70 ^(Talk) 15:04, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

No problem! No one expects you to learn all the rules at once. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:06, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

FA etc.

Hi, regarding Talk:Distributed operating system someone said it should be an FA. It is not up to me to do it, for I am busy with other things, and do not even know how to do FA, but if you know how, I think you should leave a message somewhere. I think that article is a credit to Wikipedia, unlike most of the computing project. I also mentioned it here. Cheers. History2007 (talk) 01:48, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

The next step would be to get it listed as a "Good article". See that page for the criteria and instructions. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:16, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

I am concerned about new articles related to the Frankfurt U-Bahn

You recently welcomed their author User:Duffyduck97. He seems to be creating an article for every line on the system and creating a kind of timetable. Does this belong in WP? If so, should it be done a better way? I have put a merge tag on one of them U9 (Frankfurt U-Bahn) Glad you enjoyed the baklava, its a favorite of mine. Regards --Greenmaven (talk) 04:19, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

The "merge" looks sensible, as even the German Wikipedia doesn't have a separate article about this line. I've tagged the talk page with a wikiproject, so it now shows up in Category:Unassessed Rail transport in Germany articles - that may attract some attention to it as well. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:48, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Contributions lists

Can you tell me why some lines in [3] have the word 'vandalism' in red, and other lines do not? Sorry to trouble you again. --Greenmaven (talk) 06:10, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

I can't see it, despite scrolling back through several years of contributions. If this was a very recent entry, then perhaps he was tagging a page for deletion as vandalism, and it has already been deleted. But the answer is that wikilinks take effect in edit summaries, and, as usual, will display as blue if they are valid or red if there's a mistake.

I'll save this edit with this edit summary "Example edit summary with a blue link and a red link". -- John of Reading (talk) 07:40, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Replied at WP:VPT#Fundraising problem. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 08:16, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Editing Current Events

John, you recently removed my edit to the December 11th, 2011 portal. However, I took a look at your profile and you explicitly state that you "aim to review all changes in the Portal namespace, excluding the active Current events sub-pages. I find this wierd becuase you reviewed the change that I made a Current Event sub-page. I suggest you recant your action and allow me to repost my factual contribution. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.227.220.244 (talk) 21:46, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, OK, I admit that when I'm online I may keep an eye on those pages too. But your edit doesn't belong there - please check the posting guideline for those pages. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:03, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

a heads-up

Canadian Coast Guard Arun-class lifeboats was recently merged to Arun class lifeboat.

The justification the merge proposer made was "... they decribe the same class of boat. This article already has a section about the Canadian boats."

I missed the {{mergeto}} tag. I guess all of us who worked on the article did. I offered some reasons why I thought the the merge was a bad idea.

As someone who contributed to the original article I thought you should know. Geo Swan (talk) 07:46, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm not a lifeboat expert! The article turned up in one of my scans for spelling mistakes, that's all. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:50, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

brandnew editor is looking for some feedback.

To Chzz, John and UKexpat A brandnew editor is looking for some feedback. I gave some here, which isn't all that positive, and I think others viewed the issue as resolved. The editor is asking how to move forward. Does the editor's suggestion to consider a cat make sense? Does anyone have more encouraging thoughts on what to do with the draft?--SPhilbrick (Talk) 21:01, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Oh dear. The first step is to show the notability of the book itself. I've seen the book; its a collection of trivial neologisms where the author has picked a placename instead of inventing a brand new word. I don't think the new definitions belong in the articles about the places. I don't think the list article has a place here either. (Replying here because this is too negative for the help desk). -- John of Reading (talk) 22:15, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Replied again at Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 December 16#Created a new article in the userspace -- John of Reading (talk) 08:42, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for following up - I hadn't seen the book, so was at a disadvantage.--SPhilbrick (Talk) 14:44, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you for your help and for the useful links!``SympatheticResonance (talk) 01:39, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

About the word "spin-off"

I hate to tell you this, but the word "spin-off" does have a hyphen in it. There's an article that says it: Spin-off. King Shadeed 0:10, December 21, 2011 (UTC)

"spin-off" and "spinoff" are correct spellings, but only when used as a noun. I am, I hope, only making changes where it is being misused as a verb. See wikt:spin-off and wikt:spinoff. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:12, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

There's another word called "Spin out" like restructuring also known as "spin-off". I see what you're saying too as well. I appreciate it. King Shadeed 10:23, December 21, 2011 UTC)

Reply to Free-File Tag

In case you are not watching my talk page, I reposted this here.
Thanks for the info John. Could you tell me if this logo file File:Google_Chrome_2011_computer_icon.svg‎ has the above said tag? And by the way how do you check for the tag? Amit Dash (talk) 13:06, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Replied at your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:13, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, appreciate your help. Amit Dash (talk) 13:15, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

AWB query

Hi John, I was interested to see that in this edit you were using AWB and changed "336 feet" to "336 feet". This is not called for according to our Manual of Style as well as normal printing conventions. It is correct, of course, to use a non-breaking space between a number and a unit symbol as described in MOS:NUM#Unit symbols, so "336 ft" would be right, as we don't want to start a new line with "ft", so perhaps that's where the confusion occurs. What I was interested in was if the change was being suggested by AWB, because then the problem would need to be rectified with the AWB maintainers. Cheers --RexxS (talk) 15:57, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

My edit was the breath/breathe spelling correction, the rest was done by the AWB general fixes. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:02, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, John - keep up the good work! --RexxS (talk) 16:11, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Looks as if this was discussed here and then forgotten about. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:17, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks again, John. It certainly seems to have been ignored the last time it was raised. --RexxS (talk) 17:21, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

I'll watch your new thread with interest. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:27, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your input, John. Looks like it's been fixed now. --RexxS (talk) 23:20, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Non-free rationale for File:JamieMoyerInningsPitched.jpg

re: your reply on my talk page:

Can you give me a bit more direction? I wrote the portion of the "Practical Usage" section of Ternary numeral system which deals with the use of the ternary numeral system in baseball statistics. The image I uploaded was a tiny portion of a baseball card which included only a portion of 1 column of numbers. The statistics themselves are not copyrighted, but the image is an important compliment to the article because it shows a real, practical use of the ternary system in everyday life. That really seems like fair use to me. There is no alternative to getting my point across than showing something that was published in print. Tzadik (talk)

Hmm. You'd better ask at Media copyright questions where the experts live. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:44, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	thank you for helping me Leeboy100 (talk) 19:18, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! Yes, that seems to be working fine now. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:23, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Book:History of the 39th Infantry Division

Would you be willing to do a thorough copy edit on a book that I want to print for an up coming reunion? Book:History of the 39th Infantry Division Thanks! Aleutian06 (talk) 20:43, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

A mere 200 pages in the PDF file! I'll try and read through it on Monday or Tuesday. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:04, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

OK. I've fed all the articles into AWB, and am working through the text with the Microsoft Word spelling and grammar checker. Four articles to go using that tool. What I haven't done yet is to read the text. Some queries to be going on with:

In 39th "Delta" Division I not sure about the section headed "Some units remain intact". How does it follow on from the previous sentence, ending in a colon?
Is "Dermontt" correct? It looks odd, and the word only appears in your articles

Dermott is correct

In 153rd Infantry Regiment (United States) is "Authur Neill" correct? This should be "Arthur", I suspect. The word turns up in the main text and in two of the references. He's mentioned in other articles too.

Correct, it should be Arthur Neill

In 156th Infantry Regiment (United States) there are "2d" and "3d" where I'd expect "2nd" and "3rd". Is this deliberate?
156th Infantry Regiment (United States) has a couple of unnamed external links at the bottom
In 141st Field Artillery Regiment (United States), should "Colours" be "Colors" with US spelling?

Correct

In 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (United States) the paragraph after "Re-numbering and loss of state designations" contains a repeated sentence.
In 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (United States) there's a list of units with a "Station" column containing place-names. The spellings there seem unreliable. I've fixed some, but I assume you are more familiar with the area and can spot the errors more easily. Some of the other articles have lists like this too.
In 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (United States) are "Abu Ghraib" and "Abu Gahrab" meant to be the same?

Yes

In 142nd Field Artillery Regiment (United States) the "Heraldry items" section looks messy and repetitive. Is "142d" intentional? (The corresponding section in the next article 206th Field Artillery Regiment (United States) looks better)

nd is more current. "d" was used often during WWII.

In 206th Field Artillery Regiment (United States) should "Providenance" be "Providence"?

Providence, as the city of

In 206th Field Artillery Regiment (United States) should "Stand Read to Resond" be "Stand Ready to Respond"?

Correct

In 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment (United States) is "Silver Ban" correct? An odd kind of award.

Correct, it was the campaign participation device that was formerly issued to units represented by a Guideon, in stead of a set of Colors. Guideon bearing units are now authorized streamers like regimental colors.

In 2nd Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment (United States) should "Sina" be "Sinai"? If not, where is it?

Yes "Sinai"

Thanks so very much for this help.

-- John of Reading (talk) 12:40, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Just one more query from the automated checking of the last four articles...

In 151st Cavalry Regiment (United States), should "Federick" be "Frederick"?

Yes Frederick is correct

-- John of Reading (talk) 15:32, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so much for all your edits! Merry Christmas! Aleutian06 (talk) 22:11, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Joseph Phillips

Hi John,

I have replied to your last message with the text below but then wasn't sure if I should have put a new article on your talk page so I've now done that too as a 'belt and braces' approach.

Thank you for your advice. I have used the tutorials and the Article Wizard to help me. I have written my first article and have researched similar articles in order to get consistency in the style without plagiarising detail. I have written with a neutral point of view and avoided any personal interpretations using purely factual information. I have added a lot of links for reference and verification purposes. I have not breached any copyrights. I think the article is almost ready to be submitted but would appreciate some feedback before I hit the ‘submit’ button.

I would like to know a bit more about ‘disambiguation’ as I would like my page to be found when people are searching for Joseph Phillips or Joey Phillips rather than Joseph Phillips (English Actor). Also I can’t seem to change the heading of the infobox, I want it to just say Joseph Phillips rather than MickPhillips/Joseph Phillips (English Actor).

Regards MickPhillips (talk) 16:09, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Replied at your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:38, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Season's tidings!

FWiW Bzuk (talk) 02:44, 25 December 2011 (UTC).

Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 11:31, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Editor's Barnstar
	Thank you for your help! Landfyoung (talk) 12:01, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! You still need to decide whether to change the licensing at File:October.jpg? -- John of Reading (talk) 16:14, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you so much for your kind help with my image deletion problem. Dazedbythebell (talk) 21:17, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Glad to have helped. I like your account name, btw! -- John of Reading (talk) 21:21, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

January 2012

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute to Wikipedia, at least one of your recent edits, such as the one you made to Pikachu virus, did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any test edits you would like to make, and read the welcome page to learn more about contributing constructively to this encyclopedia. AKS (talk) 10:50, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Well, I've never had one of those before! Did you read my edit summary or the comment on the talk page? This Help desk thread may also be relevant. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:54, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

LOL! You is evil!! Bad John!! fredgandt 11:40, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Like -- John of Reading (talk) 11:44, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for the new year

Barnstar

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		for frequency and helpfulness of your replies on the Help desks. ColinFine (talk) 12:56, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

How thoughtful! Thank you, and best wishes to you for the new year. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:37, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks!

I figured it's time for me to stop editing anonymously - but it was I who asked you.

Thanks for solving my reflist problem so quickly! Is there an easy-to-understand description somewhere as to how to do it myself?

Daniel0067 (talk) 20:58, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi! You might like the Wikipedia:Tutorial - the page on "Citing sources" just gives the basics. I'll leave some good introductory links on your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:01, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the help

Thanks for the response and post. How did you find the template/correct place to post if you don't mind me asking. Wiki seems to be fairly chaotic and all over the place to the uninformed. I this posted on my wall, then saw the little box that said post on yours. So here's a copy. lol Chrissd21 (talk) 11:17, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

I've replied at your talk page to keep the conversation in one place. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:23, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations

		100000 Edits
		Congratulations on reaching 100000 edits. You have achieved a milestone that very few editors have been able to accomplish. The Wikipedia Community thanks you for your continuing efforts. Keep up the good work!

Buster Seven Talk 15:17, 20 Jan 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for noticing! -- John of Reading (talk) 08:17, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

@John of Reading 46.15.5.214 (talk) 21:52, 15 January 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up

I appreciate the information and link about nominating articles for deletion a second time. I had read some of the information on dealing with them, but the particulars were murky in spots. Thanks for clarifying matters.ChessPlayerLev (talk) 14:08, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Cite removed from Type 071 amphibious transport dock

Noticed you had worked on this article. Please check the citation that has been removed.Oberonfitch (talk) 17:05, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

I just fixed a typo there, and have no special expertise in this topic. The source that was removed today seems to be a blog, so it's no great loss as far as I can see. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:29, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Appreciated your comments and a request

Hi John, I appreciated your comments at this Help Desk thread. I have followed up with a tmbox on my user talk page and I wonder if you have any thoughts about its appropriateness for a template. Thanks, EdChem (talk) 04:00, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I've created {{User grieving}} using your picture and most of your text. I've asked for comments at the help desk thread. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:08, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi. Thanks. As it happens, I have just created a template too, at User:EdChem/Grief_template which I tried to move to [[Template:User grieving]] but couldn't. Do we put them up as alternatives, should I use a different name? EdChem (talk) 08:26, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Ah well. Just edit your changes {{User grieving}}, I think, as we don't need two nearly-identical templates. Note that I've used the "gender" magic word to get round the "his or her" problem - if placed on the talk page of someone who has identified as male at Special:Preferences, the message will say "his", and so on. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:40, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I've adapted my version to use the "gender" magic word plus allowing users to specify a pronoun. EdChem (talk) 10:54, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

This looks good. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:32, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

for your help with the Ministry of Defence (Ukraine). Ukrained (talk) 22:21, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

I wonder why someone then removed the picture? -- John of Reading (talk) 07:36, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure. Maybe for security reasons(?) -- Marek.69 ^talk 10:00, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Peer review for Pope John Paul II

Hi John, I was wondering whether you'd be interested in doing a peer review, or if you had any comments on the article

Kind Regards -- Marek.69 ^talk 10:00, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I'll give it a read-through later today. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:04, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Done I put the whole thing through a grammar checker and read it all carefully. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:20, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

		The Editor's Barnstar
		John, Thanks for helping me out today Marek.69 ^talk 00:56, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 07:06, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Note to self

Database normalization -- John of Reading (talk) 20:25, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

sent email

Hello, John of Reading. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

Curb Chain (talk) 07:50, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
	Thank for helping me with the ads. NCISfan2 (talk) 15:25, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 15:27, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Articles at stake for interception deletion

Hi awesome Wikipedia editing and adding. I just received a Wikipedia:Articles for deletion for my List of plasma (physics) articles, List of laser articles and list of infrared articles that I just recently created. If u want it would be fantastic for u to use your cognitive killer instinct and not compassionate kind instinct choice on commenting on whether these articles should be kept or deleted friend to the end at wolds end The end no to be continued.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 23:42, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm not convinced by these articles either. I'm watching the discussions. Meanwhile, see Wikipedia:Canvassing. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:28, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh I did not know that till late yesterday. As long as I did not try to convince u totally on to help keep the articles alive I wanted u to use your cognitive killer instinct and not compassionate kind instinct on choosing. I looked at WP:LIST and it says list of articles is acceptable is there a way I can reverse this up for deletion process. Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 04:31, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Discussions like these usually stay open for seven days. The closing admin will weigh up the arguments; it's not a vote-counting exercise. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:15, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Merge discussion for Rodeo Beach

An article that you have been involved in editing, Rodeo Beach , has been proposed for a merge with another article. If you are interested in the merge discussion, please participate by going here, and adding your comments on the discussion page. Thank you. Rupert Clayton (talk) 00:52, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Done -- John of Reading (talk) 07:29, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Re: Unified login

Thank you for your reply, — Quibus (talk) 13:31, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Sorry we couldn't help. I suggest you try WP:VPT. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:32, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

The issue is resolved, it was a matter of enabling third party cookies. Take care, — Quibus (talk) 19:14, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Cross Road

new subject Hi John, I submitted a different meaning for Cross Road on the Cross Road page but it has been taken off twice without any message to me. Can you help me to understand what is going on?Jacobandtotty (talk) 13:58, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Does my reply at Wikipedia:Help desk#Contribution keeps getting removed help? -- John of Reading (talk) 14:06, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Hello again. You have completely misunderstood what a Cross Road is. It is not an intersection, repeat it is not an intersection. It is the official government label given to a secondary status highway in the UK and the term "Cross Road" is found alot on map legends by researchers who need clarification on its meaning in the hierarchy of highways for their work ie they need immediate access to my submitted article as they will not think to look for it under "Intersection". The term "Cross Road" has been in use in English language since the 1600's and should not be subordinate to the label of a 20th century musician's work. I will put it on again so please do not remove it Jacobandtotty (talk) 14:20, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I didn't read enough of your text, did I? I'm sorry. Since you are writing about a different subject, I have copied it to its own page, User:Jacobandtotty/Cross Road (byway). I have added the "draft article" header, which has a couple of useful links in it. Please don't edit the Cross Road page again. Wikipedia readers and editors just have to live with the fact that words have more than one meaning - have a look at John Smith or, as a random example, Poker (disambiguation). When the article is reviewed and accepted, someone familiar with the rules on Wikipedia article titles will decide what it should be called. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:35, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you John Dictionary definitions Page 9 "What Is a Cross Road" Examples of maps Pages 11-20 "What Is a Cross Road". Most of these maps have their own index references in the Public Record Office (now National Archives) map room or the British Library Map Library. Ralph Allen's Bye, Way and Cross Road Posts, Post Office Archives and Record Centre (Ref 1 61A); Pages 21 to 22 "What Is a Cross Road" and The History of the Post Office from Its Establishment down to 1836 by Herbert Joyce C.B., Post Office Archives and Records Centre ref,54A.Jacobandtotty (talk) 13:12, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

I've posted another set of questions on your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:15, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Trouble on User Page

Hello, John. I would like to get a response to my issue(s). I'm trying to edit the list of groups that I'm working for, but I can't seem to have my links look proper, and it has a Sandbox Look. Could you show me where to go to get this link right, and also where I can add other interests of mine like the Geography and History on my user page (I had to copy and paste in order to get those two). The instructions given didn't help me much. Thanks for reading! LeftAire (talk) 15:48, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I've fixed the formatting problem for you. The MediaWiki software does odd things if you leave spaces at the start of a line. I deleted the spaces.

There are a huge number of userboxes at Wikipedia:Userboxes/Gallery. You don't have to stick to pre-built userboxes, though. If you peek at User:John of Reading/Userboxes you'll see that I've used the {{Userbox}} template directly for a couple of them. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:57, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation

I noticed your submission in Articles for creation, Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Cross Road (byway). Thanks! It will be reviewed by a volunteer soon.

Before it can be added to Wikipedia, your submission should have references. All articles on Wikipedia should have inline, numbered references ... ^{[details removed]} ... If you need any help, just put {{helpme}} at the end of this page, followed by a question or get into our live help chat chanel at #wikipedia-en-help ^connect.

Best, ChzzBot IV (talk) 12:08, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

What a pity that the bot wasn't able to read the edit summary of the edit that created the page. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:26, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Prophet (company) article

Dear John of Reading,

I posted this article in the mainspace last month. So far, no new page patrollers have reviewed it. If you could possibly review it when you have a chance, I would be very grateful. Thank you!Braedon Farr (talk) 12:21, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I'm still not confident in reviewing new articles. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:21, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Merge discussion for Pontoon fenders

The article Pontoon fenders has been proposed for a merge with an article you've edited. If you are interested in the merge discussion, please participate by going here, and adding your comments on the discussion page. Thank you. 842U (talk) 13:34, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, but I only changed one word. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:42, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Twinkle rollback

A user editing from 194.176.105.147 (talk · contribs · info · WHOIS) has asked why I find Twinkle rollback good enough. I haven't asked for the "official" rollback privilege for four reasons:

I haven't been tempted to try the special-purpose anti-vandalism tools such as Huggle and igloo, which require that privilege
The volume of edits in the Portal and Help namespaces is much smaller than elsewhere - perhaps 500 edits per day and 5-10 edits per day respectively.
I don't want to have my watchlist and recent changes pages cluttered with extra links
I like to see the full diff of an edit before undoing it

If I've misunderstood the question, and you are actually asking about a particular edit that I've made, feel free to ask about it - preferably on this "user talk" page and not my user page. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:19, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Parent of atheism

That quote, which is also in another article, is a bit fishy as I can't find it in the preview of the book.[4]. Dougweller (talk) 17:01, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Never mind, it's been sorted. Dougweller (talk) 17:04, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

It's nice when one of my "[sic?]" tags gets resolved. There are plenty more in Category:Articles containing possible transcription errors. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:10, 16 February 2012 (UTC)